Public Budgeting Comparisons Research Paper

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In the FY 2011 it was mentioned that the St. Lawrence Seaway remained open for 99% of the time during the shipping season. Continuous efforts are also being made to ensure that the flow of traffic on the roadways is improved as well. Although decrease in delay was noticed in many areas but these results were not very clear due to the delays that took place on the borders. It was noticed that in NY, WA, Buffalo and Blaine, the delays increased. However, five crossings were observed and it was noted than from among those, in three, the delay decreased (U.S. DOT, 2011). Please refer to the details below for performance measures on global connectivity (U.S. DOT, 2011).

Environmental Stewardship

When it comes to the environmental factors and the transportation, the transportation can prove to be a very serious issue. However, DOT tries to ensure that no environmental issues take place with regards to the quality of the transportation. It has been noticed that for four years in a row now that no standards regarding the air pollution have been violated by the Department (U.S. DOT, 2011). Please refer to the details below for performance measures on environmental stewardship (U.S. DOT, 2011).

Security, Preparedness and Response

Although when it comes to the security of the public transportation, the Department of Homeland Security is the one that is responsible. However, DOT has and still does ensure that it has the ability and capability to keep functioning with in a crisis situation. It is through the Maritime Administration that during the military mobilization the role of being a supporter of the Department of Defence was played by DOT. DOT has been exceeding their requirements for the commercial ports and shipping capacity for four years in a row now (U.S. DOT, 2011). Please refer to the details below for performance measures on security, preparedness and response (U.S. DOT, 2011).

Organizational Excellence

As DOT's administration pays a lot of attention to how DOT is making use of the tax payers' money, they keep a record of the costs that are associated with the major infrastructure projects and major system purchases. DOT doesn't make the cost estimate for the huge infrastructure projects as whole but it is being observed that a lot of individual projects are improving and performing well. The cost estimates, finance plans and project management plans will continue to be reviewed by the DOT administration.

Required Changes

It is essential for the smooth and efficient running of DOT that it tries to find out and study the factors or risks that can make it difficult for DOT to reach their objectives. In order to manage the identified risks, DOT needs to improve the internal controls of the system. In order to manage the risks in a proper manner DOT needs to manage its performance through the risk indicators. Some of the risk indicators are: observing exactly how we are identifying the risks that are involved in the internal control and how we are addressing these challenges, what are the rates and amounts of improper payments etc. Activities such as audits that are conducted by the Department's Office of Inspector General could be used to bring these above mentioned challenges to the attention of the management. The inputs from the current businesses should be used to formulate and improve risk management strategies. In order to modernize their Financial Systems the feasibility of different paths should be monitored continuously. In order to ensure consistency and standardize the financial management processes it is important that the DOT makes use of the information from the prior reports and work conducted.

In future, the DOT administration should plan on improving the Department with the help of the accomplishments in the financial management department. Along with this ensuring the availability of secure and efficient transportation will remain the Department's most important concern. With the help of their financial system DOT plans on promoting economic growth with the help of the availability of jobs.

Scholarly Activity 2

Introduction

The recession is finally ending after giving the American Nation a very difficult time for two years. These two years have been the toughest that the American people had to face in generations. There is no more danger of the U.S. financial system collapsing or of a second Great Depression starting. The swift and aggressive actions that were taken to cope with the recession have proved to be fruitful as the economy of the Nation is now recovering. The main reason for the jump-start of the economic structure is the boosting of the macroeconomic demand that was done by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Recovery Act). The dangerous recessionary cycle to the Administration's Financial Stability Plan was broken with the help of this step. Hence, the confidence of other organizations was restored in the U.S. markets and the financial institutions. This step greatly helped the government in saving the automobile industry. There were some extraordinary choices and decisions made by the President, some of which weren't very popular among the people either. However, time has proved that those policies and decisions played a very important role in making the economy start its journey back to recovery (Budget.gov, 2012).

Although the economy is now in its recovering stages but that doesn't mean that all the problems have been solved. There are still so many people in America who remain unemployed, a lot of businesses that still need some time to recover from the losses that they had to face due to the recession. There are still towns and cities in America that have been affected by the recession to such an extent that they are still having difficulties in providing their residents with jobs (Budget.gov, 2012).

Careful measures have to be taken in order to ensure that the recovery process doesn't have to face any more setbacks. It has been observed through various studies that the longer the recession stays the longer and more dangerous its side effects become. According to some studies the unemployment of parents affects the educational and the professional achievements of their children. Similarly, some studies also show that the people who start their jobs in the recession period get underpaid not only in times of recession but many years after that too. There are still some studies that have shown that recession not only affects the societies but the individuals too and in a negative fashion. Therefore, in order to make sure that the U.S. economy and Nation face long-term economic growth it is important for them as a Nation to invest in the infrastructure and capabilities of their workforce (Budget.gov, 2012a).

Right now we as individuals as well as a society need to make choices that will benefit their Nation as a whole. In order to make sure that the U.S. economy becomes one of the strongest ones in the world the government needs to make sure that it invests in the education, transportation, infrastructure and innovation of the American Nation. By doing this they will be able to make the Nation able enough to compete in the global market. However, to achieve all this some serious and tough decisions have to be made. Hence, in the federal, state and local budget some of these decision such as making necessary investments and cuts have to be discussed. All these steps are essential for the American economy as these will enable the availability of jobs and better investment and business scenarios in the upcoming months (Budget.gov, 2012).

In the next few pages we will discuss the federal, state and local budget distribution to the department of transportation in the rebuilding process for the past two to five years, i.e. during and after the recessionary period.

Federal, State and Local Budget

The budget forecasting for States is very difficult at the moment due to the severe recession that it recently came across as wells as the frail economic recovery that it has recently started. The State Budget for the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2010-11 was four months late as it was enacted on August 3, 2010. It was also overly optimistic as it relied heavily on the projections from tax revenues for the budget balance. The initial projections of the All Funds tax revenue got lowered by about $343 million in the Mid-Year Financial Plan that was released in November 2010 by the Division of the Budget (DOB). In February 2011 these projections got further reduced to $690 million. Therefore, in just over a period of six months there was a $1.0 billion reduction in the expected tax revenue. It has been noted that there has been a shortfall in the All Funds tax revenue collections by approximately $8.3 billion than what had been projected at the time of the budget enactment (Budget.gov, 2012a).

The spending plan of the State is made by keeping the revenue projections that…
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